Beyond the Ghetto Gates is set in 1796-97, a rare happy epoch in Jewish life when Napoleon marched into Italy and demolished the ghetto gates, freeing the Jews who had long been trapped behind them. We’ll talk with author Michelle Cameron, about how, based on history unfamiliar to most readers, the novel raises issues that remain pertinent today, including antisemitism, the conflict between assimilation and religious tradition, intermarriage, and the struggle between love and familial duty.